Name : Encik Siti Adilah

NIM : E1D018034
Class : V B Morning

Theoretical Foundation for Evaluating Foreign Language Textbooks

According to Tom Hutchinson (1983), the evaluation of a textbook contributes to the area
of English education in two aspects. That is, one aspect is a simple contribution through the
teacher's deed of selecting a textbook and the other is that the teacher can enhance his own
understanding of the teaching and learning situation. And one of the material development
experts in the field of English education, Alan Cunningsworth (1984) suggested the basic
theories of developing foreign language textbooks as follows Teacher and Textbook, Principles
of Textbook Analysis, and Grading of foreign Language Textbook.

The several textbook analysis theories classified by decade (1970s, 1980s and 1990s) are
as follows:
 Textbook Analysis Theories in 1970s
In the period of the 1970s, Stevick (1972), Bruder (1978), Tucker (1978), Cowles
(1976), Daoud and Celce-Murcia (1979) and others have presented theories for English
textbook analysis. The theoretical analysis of the English textbooks presented in this
period, did not have sufficient theoretical basis due to its short history and the rater was
only asked to make objective and numerical judgments.
 Textbook analysis theory of Stevick (1972)
Standard analysis of English textbooks, presented by Stevick, is to classify the
assessment standards of English textbooks into three qualifications, three dimensions
and four components. The three qualifications are Strength / Weakness, Lightness /
Heaviness and Transparency / Opacity. Then there are three dimensions, namely the
Linguistic Dimension, Social Dimension and Topic Dimension. And the four
components consist of Occasions for Use, A Sample of the Language in Use, Lexical
Exploration, and Exploration of Structural Relationships.
 Textbook analysis theory of Tucker (1978)
 Mary Newton Bruder has presented the assessment standards for 8 items in
English textbook analysis like as follows: Level, Objectives, Style, Language
Background, Age Background, Time, and Convictions. As to the 8 items mentioned
before, Bruder has set up the guidelines by which the evaluator is to mark ' +', if the
textbook content matches the level of the evaluator, to mark ' -', if the textbook
content doesn't match the level of the evaluator and to mark '0' if the textbook can’t
be applied. The most salient thing about Bruder's evaluation standards is that it had
established more objective grading (+, - , 0 ) than Stevick's evaluation theory.
 Textbook analysis theory of Tucker (1978)
According to evaluation standards Tucker has set 18 detailed items of evaluation,
upon dividing the evaluation subject into pronunciation category, grammar category,
contents category and general category, and made a graph of each content of the
detailed items after scoring. Among the theories of English textbook analysis,
Tucker's standards for textbook analysis seem to be very innovative in that it not
only presented the items of evaluation standards but also indicated the evaluation
results clearly and it presented the whole rating chart in graphs, displaying the
difference from the ideal model by visual analysis
 Textbook Analysis Theories in 1980s
Entering the 1980's, the theory of English textbook analysis was systematically
established. During this period, Rivers (1981), Cunningsworth (1984), Dougill (1987),
Sheldon (1988) and others have presented textbook analysis theory.

 Textbook analysis theory of Rivers(1981)

Rivers introduced the evaluation standards of seven categories and 45 detailed
items when he presented a theory of English textbook analysis.
 Circumstances: connection between textbook's goal and textbook contents,
age and capability of learners, length and intensity of a subject, detailed
items of diverse activities of learners and others.
 Demand of teacher and learners: methodology, auxiliary teaching
materials, auxiliary educational instruments of teacher and learner and
others
  Language and thematic content: fidelity of textbook contents, theme,
surroundings, the contents' interest and value, the balancing sense and
others
 Linguistic content and structure: selection of language materials, unit plan,
teaching contents of specific subject
 Learning activities: dialogic style, actual communication, contents of
exercise
 Practicalities: physical feature, price, availability
 Interesting contents: Interesting contents for learner and teacher
 Textbook analysis theory of Cunningsworth (1984)
Cunningsworth (1984) presented the general principle of textbook production and
evaluation and also presented the comprehensive valuation basis chart for English
textbook. The evaluation criteria presented by him, was divided broadly into 4
categories of linguistic content, the selection and grading of language items,
presentation and practice of new language items and development of language skills
and communication skills.
 Textbook analysis theory of Dougill (1987)
John Dougill established overall outline, unit, theme, form, components of subject
and others as the upper category from a different viewpoint. Accordingly, we can
notice from John Dougill's theory of analysis that the establishment of upper
category to organize detailed items, having arisen in early 1980s, came to secure an
unwavering position and a definite role in Dougill's time.
Dougill presented other standards for textbook evaluation in terms of superficial
validity, creativity, consistency and emotion. The superficial validity refers to how
much the subject goal and textbook content is superficially reasonable and creativity
indicates to what extent the textbook encourages learners to use the language outside
the class. And the consistency refers to the degree of a subject's coherence as a unit
and the emotional aspect refers to the extent to which textbook content influence on
the individual tendencies of learners.
 Textbook analysis theory of Leslie E. Sheldon (1988)
 Sheldon presented the evaluation standard into several parts consisting of
Theoretical basis, Availability, User-defined, Arrangement, Ease of self evaluation,
Connectivity, Choice, Grading, Physical characteristics, Appropriateness, and
Authenticity.

 Textbook Analysis Theories in 1990s

The most salient feature of the theory of textbook analysis in the 1990s is that the
upper category of analysis which started to appear from the 1980s was set up in the
higher level. Although not a great quantity of theories of textbook analysis were released
in the 1990s, the theory of MacDonough and Shaw (1993) displays a feature that is quite
distinct from the theory from the 1980s.
MacDonough and Shaw established the analysis category in a much higher level,
classifying the analysis criteria into Macro-Evaluation (external evaluation) and Micro-
Evaluation (internal evaluation) and suggested that the Micro Evaluation should be
performed only for the textbooks that have passed the Macro Evaluation. In this respect,
the analysis theory of MacDonough and Shaw can be maintained to be very distinctive so
as to be distinguished from those theories of the 1970s and 1980s.

Conclusion: Development and Prospect of Textbook Analysis Theories

The theory of textbook analysis of appeared first in 1970s, in which period the analysis
standards were established in detailed items and each item requested for objective analysis by
rating. And 8-26 detailed items for objective ratings were presented. In 1980s, the upper category
of analysis standards was introduced in order to organize the detailed items in a higher stage. The
theory of this period was apt to ask rather for the evaluator's subjective evaluation than the
objective evaluation by numeric code or rating. During 1980s, the upper categories of 4-7 (Upper
Category 1) were presented for rating. Compared to that of 1980s, more comprehensive upper
category was established in 1990s. That is, it has established the two upper category of Macro-
evaluation/Micro-evaluation and made the textbook undergo macro evaluation first and undergo
the micro evaluation in the next stage. Thus, it established a principle to adopt the textbook that
passed the micro evaluation.